An urban naturalist finds a friendly frog in an piece of waste-ground on the Woodstock Road at Nettlefield.
Street art by Keyto (ig) in east Belfast.
More nature on Woodstock/Cregagh: a heron by Peachzz.
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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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These crying eyes are a piece of Covid-era (2021) street art on the theme of loneliness by Wee Nuls for the NI Mental Health Arts Festival (Fb).
They are on the shutters of Framewerk on the Upper Newtownards Road.
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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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“I love it when a plan comes together” was the catch-phrase of Hannibal Smith, leader of the (fictional) A-Team, a crew of US soldiers from the Viet Nam war, on the run from the military police and working as hired guns back in the States, in the US television show of the same name. The font used in “THE FA TEAM” (below), like the font used in the show’s title card and credits, imitates military stencils.
There were 98 episodes of the action-series (WP), and it felt as though at least 97 of them involved the gang’s GMC Vandura van being turned into an armed vehicle and used in a spectacular, guns-blazing, escape from and/or assault on the bad guys, assisted by daredevil helicopter-flying by Howling Mad Murdock. Both vehicles have been modified in the Foreign Assassins (Fb) graffiti art shown here with spray cans that are firing their caps as missiles.
The art replaces Stranger Kings on the Comber Greenway in east Belfast.
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The area around the junction of the Newtownards Road and the Holywood Road in east Belfast is known as the “Holywood Arches”. The name comes from the fact that – up until 1950 – the old Belfast & County Down railway line from Comber (and beyond that from Newtownards or Newcastle) crossed over both streets on top of two large arches, wide enough to allow traffic in both directions and tall enough to accommodate double-decker buses (see e.g. this image on Pinterest).
This mural is on the shutters of the nearby Arches Café (web); the vintage photograph reproduced can be seen in this pdf from Eastside Partnership.
See also: Step Back In Time about a train crash in 1945 at Ballymacarrett station (on the Bangor line) that killed 22.
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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Thursday, May 8th, marks the eightieth anniversary of VE or “Victory in Europe” day, the end of WWII on the continent. About 380,000 British soldiers died during the war. Commemorative events in Belfast include a walking tour of the city centre (City Council) and a dance on the HMS Belfast (IWM); for events elsewhere in Northern Ireland, see VE-VJDay80. Pubs will be open for an extra two hours (until 1 a.m.) on the day.
This printed flag is in Dee Street, east Belfast, previously home to various WWI commemorations (seen in All together Now | At The Eleventh Hour); for more on the KCIII and QEII boards included in the final image, below, see My God-Given Right To Rule.
See also: VE Day Celebrations | The Shankill Remembers VE Day | From D-Day To VE Day
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Here is a selection of east Belfast electrical boxes painted with street art.
Above: Face – emic (web) – Templemore Avenue
Below:
Beanie – ? – Portallo Street
Crayons – FGB (web) – Ladas Drive
Wasp – ?NRMN? – Castlereagh Street
Bee – NRMN (ig) – Castlereagh Street
Frog – ? – Mount Merrion Avenue
Be Glad – ? – Mount Merrion Avenue
Mole – ? – Mount Merrion Avenue
In Flight – Imogen Donegan (ig) – Albertbridge Road
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Copyright © 2023/2024/2025 Paddy Duffy
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The shutters of the Peppercorn café on the Woodstock Road were painted with a WWI theme back in 2015 (In Flanders Fields) and were re-painted in late 2020.
The first panel (above) shows “our wee country” – Northern Ireland, on the occasion of its centenary.
The second features the “Light Of Foot” (web) programme supporting the mental health of bandsmen in Scotland and Northern Ireland. “Marching mental health”, “It’s okay to talk”.
The final panel reproduces (in reverse direction) John Singer Sergeant’s painting Gassed – for a photographic version, also in east Belfast, see Observe The Sons Of Ulster. “Their sacrifice, our freedom.”
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This entry updates 2023’s Leaders Of Unionism Against Home Rule, which shows portraits of Carson, Crawford, and Craig, and describes their efforts in 1912, with creation of the Ulster Volunteers and the importing of arms into Larne and Donaghadee.
To the original board have been added the two plaques (shown above and immediately below), one on either side:
On the right: “In memory of our absent friends. Forever remembered by 1st East Belfast Mens, Cosy, East End and Laganville Somme groups. ‘They live in our hearts forever'”
On the left: “Jim Holt – forever remembered – forever in our ranks [of the UVF]. West End Somme Association, Glasgow.” There is a large board to Holt in Beechfield Street.
Isthmus Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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This entry updates (with close-ups) the image seen in 2022’s Luminaries And Legends Of Eastside which showed (from afar) the ‘famous faces’ mural at Connswater/CS Lewis Square in east Belfast with a large “smiley” face over DJ David Holmes – a (presumably) unauthorised addition to the 2017 original. Word is that Holmes’s image was painted over because he is not from east Belfast. It’s not clear (from on-line sources) where exactly in Belfast Holmes is from; he lived in Los Angeles, California, for a time before returning c. 2014 (Irish Times).
(MaskerAid is an app that allows one to cover faces in photos with smiley-faces and other emoji.)
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“Good vibes outside” is a series of “everyday adventure” guides from clothing brand Bleubird, which now has three physical shops, in Ballymena, Cookstown, and east Belfast, where you can find this street art by Cha Cha (Carla Hodgson ig) depicting many local adventure-spots – the list at the bottom suggests Wild Atlantic Way, Fermanagh Lakelands, Giants Causeway, Sperrins, Rathlin Island, Strangford Lough, Mourne Mountains.
Upper Newtownards Road, Ballyhackamore, east Belfast
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Paddy Duffy Collection 